Well, you have an extra day to relax this weekend but you don’t want to stay home. Fortunately, the movies are a good way to do nothing and not at home. Here are a few new flicks that are out for you to check out this Presidents Day Weekend.
Sonic The Hedgehog
In the past when moviemakers took an old school video game or tv character favorite and threw them into a live-action film it never worked out. Even though I can’t’ say this movie did a much better job than the other, one thing it was, was fun. Definitely not a film I think many adults will think is very good, but your kids will. It’s not a complicated story to follow, for them, the animated Sonic is cute and funny and Jim Carrey is in rare form. Like I said, not a film really for adults but Sonic The Hedgehog is gonna be a good way to keep the kiddos and you entertained and out of the house for a while.
Fantasy Island
So this is one of the films they didn’t let us movie critics see ahead of time. And that usually means it’s not good… and it wasn’t. I paid to see it over the weekend and was actually hoping for the best but expecting the worst. The worst is what I got. Hard to believe that it’s only February and I’ve already seen the worst movie of 2020. Right from the get-go, it seemed like they were trying too hard. One-liners that were supposed to be funny, weren’t. Tense situations that failed miserably. And a cast that couldn’t make me start to believe anything they were doing or saying. That included Michael Pena, who’s usually pretty good in everything he does. Seriously, this is one of only two movies over the years where I actually wanted to get up and leave. Had I not paid for it, I probably would have.
Downhill
I’m a big Will Farrell fan, but when it comes to his movies, he’s hit and miss. Lately, he’s mostly been, miss. But the trailer did its job and actually made this one look promising. Especially when you have another one of my favorites, Julia Louis-Dreyfus in it too. However, this one fell flat on its face really fast. I was thinking it would end up being like some of Will’s other movies, Everything Must Go or Stranger Than Fiction. Where it wasn’t an all-out, knee-slapping good time. Just a straight-faced light comedy… I barely smiled. Will’s character wore me down instantly, and Julia, even though she was better, didn’t or couldn’t do enough to save this one at all. Downhill isn’t just the name of the movie, it’s literally telling you what to expect from it.
The Photograph
The one movie I wish I had seen but didn’t have time to. Starring LaKeith Stanfield & Issa Rae, where their characters connect in a romance and where a woman must learn from the secrets in her mother’s past if she is to move forward and allow herself to love and be loved. Others I’ve chatted with seem to really like this one. And will probably be the one I get up to go watch for the redemption of the other bad films I watched instead.